A rather exciting evolution of home theater projectors was revealed at CEDIA 2018, held last month in San Diego. We learned of the first home theater projector to support 8K resolution – something we’ve been waiting for ever since 4K became a thing. Always looking to the future here, the next best thing. When JVC announced the DLA-RS3000 – they announced the next best thing. In this First Look Review, we will explore the features of the JVC DLA-RS3000 and see what this addition to the world of home theater has in store for us!
Before we get into it – what is a First Look Review? Our First Look Reviews are one-page, simple reviews based on the projector’s specs, features, and our thoughts based on those aspects, before we get the projector in for review – these First Looks are a mixture of insight and common sense. We won’t know if the projector lives up to our expectations until we get it in for testing, but we can make assumptions from what we know about similar projectors from the manufacturers, in addition to those specs/features. Now, on with our First Look Review of the JVC DLA-RS3000!
JVC Specs
Price
Technology
D-ILA-3
Native Resolution
4,096 x 2,160
Brightness (Manufacturer Claim)
2200
Contrast
1,000,000:1
Zoom Lens Ratio
Lens Shift
No
Lamp Life
Weight
Warranty
Overview
The JVC DLA-RS3000 is a $1,7999 home theater projector with true 4K resolution (4096 x 2160). Wait, what about 8K? Though this JVC is not native 8K, it is 8K in the same sense that those lower-cost 4K UHD projectors are 4K. That is, it’s a pixel shifter that takes a true 4K image and shifts the pixels, overlapping them, to reach the new “standard” for 8K resolution (8192 x 4320). Guys, 8K is so new that there’s barely even a standard for it yet. JVC is calling their new pixel shifting technology “8K eShift.” This builds off the brand’s 4K eShift, which has been around for a while.
This new JVC claims 2,200 lumens, which is quite respectable. Lamp life is 4,500 hours in Low Mode, which will reduce lumen output, but in a dedicated home theater, this projector will be nicely bright. That’ll give you a couple years of heavy use, watching for several hours a night, every day of the year. It has a high contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1 – add to that JVC’s reputation of having the best black levels around, and you’ve got one heck of a home theater projector.
The DLA-RS3000 is a hefty projector, with the usual long, rectangular shape. It’s 19.6” wide, 20.4” long, and 9.3” high. In addition to its 8K capabilities, this JVC has a few other special features which make it even more useful in a home theater environment. We’ll get into that in the Special Features section on this page, after we talk about the Highlights of the JVC DLA-RS3000 projector.
Highlights
$17,999 List Price
Native 4K (4096 x 2160) Resolution – With 8K Pixel Shifting Technology
2,200 Lumens – Bright Enough to Handle Some Modest Ambient Light
D-ILA-3 Technology
Lamp Life of 4,500 Hours (Low Mode)
100,000:1 Native Contrast Ratio – Up to 1,000,000:1
100mm All Glass Lens
Reaches 100% of the P3/BT.2020 Expanded Color Space
As mentioned, the JVC DLA-RS3000 has native true 4K resolution, and pixel shifts to get up to 8K resolution. This is but one of the features that make it a truly high end projector for a dedicated home theater. Have one of those widescreens? No problem – this JVC is ready for your Anamorphic Lens, and has Lens Memory (with a motorized lens) so that you can easily shift from widescreen to a regular 16:9 aspect ratio, for when you want to venture back into watching your favorite TV shows.
JVC claims that this, and their other lower end models in the line, can reach up to 100% of the expanded P3/BT.2020 color space. This, for me, is one of those when-I-see-it-I’ll-believe-it claims. No home theater projector has come close to reaching 100% of P3/BT.2020, but there is always a first for everything. If it is true, prepare yourself for some of the best color you’ve ever seen in your home theater! I am hoping we do get one of these in for review so that we can find out if it does indeed hit that claim.
The DLA-RS3000 does HDR – I would hope so – for regular UHD Blu-ray disks. It also has support for HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) content adopted in broadcasting, so you can get that extra pop and wow factor on your regular streaming or TV content when it’s available. Auto Tone Mapping is a new feature to hit JVCs, which used the mastering information embedded in the HDR content to automatically adjust settings, so that you’re always getting the best possible picture.
Got game? This projector does. It has a specific mode for it, Low Latency Mode, which improves picture, speeds operation, and reduces gaming/PC frame delays. We won’t know how significantly it reduces input lag until we measure the lag. For those of you who don’t know, acceptable input lag speeds range from 16ms (very good) to 50ms, with most projectors falling halfway between that range. That 33ms to 40ms range translates to being just over 1 frame behind on a 30fps game, or two frames behind on a 60 fps game – not something that will be noticed by any but the most hard-core, competitive gamers.
The JVC DLA-RS3000 has 3D compatibility so you can watch your favorite 3D Blu-ray disks. It has CFI for sports viewing. Ten customizable color modes make it so you will always have the best color. If you’ve got Control4 in your home, you can use it for command and control of this JVC. The DLA-RS3000 has a 3-year Advanced Replacement Warranty – that’s quite excellent!
Hardware
The JVC DLA-RS3000 features the new 0.69 inch native 4K D-ILA Devices (x3).
The JVC DLA-RS3000 (and its lower priced counterparts, the DLA-RS2000 and DLA RS1000) has a 100mm, all glass lens.
JVCs tend to have rather simple input and connector panels, and the DLA-RS3000 is no exception. It does have two 18Gbps HDMI/HDCP 2.2 compatible inputs for accepting 4K content – many projectors only have one. Besides those, it has a 3D Sync input, a Remote Trigger connector, an RJ-45 LAN port, and an RS-232C connector for old school command and control.
The Bottom Line
The JVC DLA-RS3000, though not native 8K, is of the first home theater projectors that can produce an 8K image. It does so by pixel shifting, which is how those 4K UHD projectors get up to the 4K standard. This is the beginning of the evolution of 8K, and we’re ready for the ride! If it does, in fact, reach that 100% of P3/BT.2020 claim, it should have some of the best color available. Add to that fact that JVCs generally have the best black levels around, I am willing to bet that this will be one superb projector.
The DLA-RS400U may be the best under $4000 home theater projector ever! $3999 lets you view 4K content, offers great black levels, and lens memory!
This year JVC has upped their projector game, and nowhere is that more apparent than the JVC DLA-RS400 and DLA-X550R home theater projectors sold in the US. The two US are the same projector sold by two different JVC divisions. The only differences are which dealers sell them, and minor trim differences.
Two and a half years ago, the RS400’s predecessor (new at the time), sported JVC’s pixel shifting capability - that version was called e-Shift3, and that projector could handle 4K content. Unfortunately that previous series of JVCs lacked the necessary newer hardware and support for commercial 4K content like Blu-ray UHD. The newer DLA-RS400 / X550, however solves that with all the necessary hardware and software to play Blu-ray UHD and copy protected HDTV. In that sense this JVC projector catches up to Epson’s dual laser LS10000, which started shipping at the end of 2014, but shipped with the necessary updated HDMI (2.0) and HDCP copy protection (2.2), needed for Blu-ray UHD compatibility.
True 4K content from Ender's Game (Blu-ray UHD), displayed with RS400U using pixel shifting
Now, this is huge for myself, and all serious home theater people who can appreciate the move to 4K on screen sizes large enough that 4K really matters. OK, there are about a gazillion LCD TVs out there that support 4K (many of the ones out there, but like the older JVCs can’t play Blu-ray UHD, but almost all new ones do).
But, there’s more. The predecessor to the RS400 was $4999, but now, the RS400 with it’s advanced 4K support is a grand less at only $3999. This should make the competition even more nervous, but we’ll discuss that later.
Our review of the JVC DLA-RS400 / DLA-X550 - which, I should mention is called the DLA-X5000 in the EU - will continue with a bit more overview, and a list of this home theater projector's highlights.
The DLA-RS600U and the virtually identical DLA-X950R are JVC's flagship models for the US Market (called the DLA-X9000 in Europe) and replace the DLA-RS67U, RS6710U and X900R models, that we had reviewed in April 2015 (HERE) and received our "Best in Class" award. Although these new JVC projectors now accept 4K/UHD signals using the latest standards (i.e., HDMI 2.0a and HDCP 2.2) and offer wide color gamut and support for High Dynamic Range (HDR) video, they do not display the picture at full, native 4K resolution. Rather, as with last year's models, JVC uses 1080p display chips along with a 4th generation of their pixel shifting technology (that JVC calls e-Shift4) to project a pseudo 4K image.
A true full resolution 4K/UHD image contains approx. 8 million (8M) pixels while a 1080p HD image contains approx. 2M pixels. These JVC projectors will take a 8M pixel image and sub-sample it to produce 4 million unique pixels that are then displayed as two sequential 2M frames that are offset diagonally from each other by 1/2 pixel. The resulting image does contain twice as much information as a 1080p image but only one half of the information as a true 4K (i.e., 2160p) image. The bottom line result is that a high quality 4K/UHD display or native 4K projector, when displaying a high quality native 4K video, can show a little more fine details than what is possible with these JVC projectors. Usually the difference in resolution will be very subtle while other differences in picture quality may be more noticeable. This will be discussed in more detail later in this review.
NOTE: See the May 2016 update to this review that addresses 4K/UHD performance - HEREUpdate 9/17: JVC has announced the RS640 the latest in the series, to ship by year end. The newest iteration has HDR - both HDR10, and HLG (for streaming), plus improved e-shift pixel shifting. We hope to review the new model in the next few months once they start shipping.
JVC's flagship home theater projector makes for stunning viewing in a dedicated home theater!
A quick clarification. This JVC DLA-RS6710U accepts some 4K content, but technically it is still a 1080p projector, since it has 1080p panels. It is not a native 4K projector. It does use something called pixel shifting.
